


Jade Orbs

by floraphyl



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: College, College Student, F/M, New York City, inspired by episode 12, non-gang AU? lmao idk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-21
Updated: 2018-10-09
Packaged: 2019-07-15 01:04:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16052267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/floraphyl/pseuds/floraphyl
Summary: You're a college student struggling to find a study spot, so you head to the New York City Library, to actually study for your next midterm. Yet you meet someone unexpected who you didn't know could affect you this much. (Ash x Reader)





	1. a "study date"

**Author's Note:**

> Idk what this is, it was supposed to be venting out my frustration I've held towards Ash Lynx in the past few weeks. He's just, making me feel some type of way okay don't judge me. I love Ash and Eiji together as much as the next person BUT you just gotta write what you gotta write. 
> 
> Inspired by the most recent episode 11 lmao

Some background context:

You’re a freshman college student in their second semester. You attend college in New York City, in the downtown area. _Supposedly,_ you’re a very studious student.

* * *

 

“Exam season is the _worst_ ,” you thought while nudged in between an elderly man reading a newspaper and another middle aged woman who was practically asleep on your shoulder. It was always crowded on the F train going uptown, no matter what time of day, and you absolutely dreaded it.

But you know what you dreaded more? Finding no empty seats in your campus’s 10-floor library — that’s how bad exam season was. And even if there were an empty seat, the person next to you was probably blasting really trashy music through their headphones or taking out a 5 course meal they bought from the nearest food truck. The library became more of a social hangout spot rather than used for it’s actual intended purpose — studying.

And that’s why you were on the crowded train to go to an _actual library._

“Next stop, 42nd Street Bryant Park,” the female robotic voice repeated twice. “Ah, this is my stop,” you thought, preparing yourself to push through the crowd to reach the open subway doors.

While climbing up the stairs, you had this ominous chill run down your spine. A swarm of people were rushing into the train station while you were struggling just to get outside. But, there was a reason why people were heading indoors rather than out. And as you stepped outside, a fat raindrop gets caught in your eye and you flinched immediately.

No wonder.

It was raining, how much worse can this day get.

With your jean jacket, you tried to shield your bookbag and your head from the rain while running to reach your destination. It wasn’t too far, but the block was long and the rain just made it seem even longer.

* * *

Most people, at first glance, probably thought this building was the Museum of Natural History or the Metropolitan Museum of Art. You couldn’t blame them, they all look nearly identical. Wishing you had the time to actually visit a museum, instead you were standing in front of the New York Public Library.

While you wanted to glance at the exterior longer, the rain was not letting up and you didn’t want your laptop, which was sitting snug in your bookbag, to get wet. You walk up the stairs to enter the grand building...to only find another swarm of people in here. There was actually a bag check line, shocking.

After a dreadful 15 minutes of waiting, you were finally free to enter the library. It had 3 floors, so it seems like there was a lot of space for books. However, even the interior was pretty similar to that of a museum. The walls were decorated with gold leaf, there were marble statues that decorated the stair banisters. Even the ceilings were painted, probably rivaling the ceilings in the Sistine chapel. The library itself was artistic and you could spend all day exploring every nook and cranny of it, But again, you didn’t have the time for that. You needed to _study_.

After roaming through the hallways, you found your ideal study spot, the Rose Reading room. It was those rooms that would be featured in the tourist magazines of New York City. It was that beautiful, rivaling the intricate libraries described in your favorite fictional stories.

However, as you opened the door, it didn’t seem as beautiful as you wanted it to be. The glowing chandeliers seemed dimmer due to the even larger crowd of people in here. It really had to rain at the worst time. What was even worse is that most people weren’t even attempting to read a book or do work, they were just occupying a seat to check their phones. You can do that in literally any other place, why pick the library? It wasn’t even worth for you thinking about it, you were skimming to find an empty seat quickly.

Walking through aisle and aisle, you were starting to feel a bit hopeless you weren’t going to find a seat.

“God, whoever you are, if you love me and want me to pass this midterm, please show me the way,” you prayed internally in your head as you were getting near the end of the reading hall. And it was that exact moment when God answered your prayers. In the second to last aisle, near the corner of the room, there was an empty brown chair. You didn’t even care as to who was sitting near you, you just wanted the seat. You slid into the seat before anyone could even have the chance to blink.

Secured, you thought as if you were playing a video game.

You let out a huge sigh of relief, still blind to your surroundings. But, it’s the moment you opened your eyes when you’re mentally hit.

A young man was sitting in front of you, focused on taking notes from a really thick book. But, he wasn’t like any man you’ve seen. It was as if the reincarnation of River Phoenix were sitting in front of you.

You didn’t even know where to start describing him, his presence, as a whole, was overwhelming. The unkempt blonde hair was (attempted) to be swept aside but his bangs kept falling back to hang over his eyes. Concealing his jade-green eyes where a pair of thin-rimmed glasses. The juxtaposition of such neat formal glasses against his unkempt hair made him even more incomprehensible. But god, you wanted to see those eyes up close. They looked so temptful, yet so unattainable.

Does this man know what kind of effect he had on people? Maybe he did, that’s why he was so focused on his work. He didn’t even flinch when you sat down, but then again, after you looked more closely, he had earbuds in.  

_Snap back to reality, remember what you’re here for._

You had already wasted 10 minutes just by studying the man in front of you — more like an ethereal god. But maybe this was a bad thing, maybe God didn’t want you to study and to fail your next midterm.

No, you wouldn’t give into your temptations.

You came here to study and that’s what you’re going to do.

You pulled out your laptop and notebook full of the diligently written notes you took all semester. You had already prepared well, you just need to reaffirm that you actually knew everything.  

You set the timer on your phone for one hour and locked down the rest of your apps.

 _No distractions,_ well no material distractions. You wished you could remove the man in front of you, who still hasn’t looked up from his book.

“ _Just notice me for one second, please, so I can study in peace,”_ you thought while highlighting your notes. You’re pretty focused yourself, but you couldn’t help but catch a few glances of the man in front of you once in awhile.

Was he even a man? He looked pretty young. A college student maybe? But you could tell there was this innocent youthful look making him look like he’s never experienced the stress of college classes.

Maybe he just doesn’t go to school, but that’s still weird — why would he be in a library then?

You’re still pondering in your thoughts for nearly half an hour when you didn’t notice the library hall was emptying slowly. And after you came to your realization, there were only about 20 people left in the library.

It was at that time when you realized you should move to another seat because studying here wasn’t making any more progress. However, you were glued to your seat, not wanting to move away from the blonde man in front of you, who was still so focused on his reading.

You couldn’t fathom how pathetic and hypocritical you were acting now and that was more than enough to convince you that you’re probably never going to see this man again so you should just _move now._

You then started stuffing your laptop back into your bag, reaching towards it to move to an area with nobody distracting around. Yet, you whispered something under your breath on impulse, a subconscious decision you’d later regret.

“Fuck you, but seriously, _fuck you.”_ You had no idea where this came out of yourself, but you immediately prayed after that he didn’t hear it.

However as you turned your back and made your first step, you finally heard it.

His voice.

“I heard that you know,” He said with his gruff, yet suave voice.

You’re frozen in your steps, slowly turning your head back.

He was actually looking up now, and you can see his eyes better as his bangs fell back – those alluring jade orbs. And not only that, but _wow,_ you haven’t seen a jawline like that before. It wasn’t too chiseled, yet it framed his face really well. You become even more mentally frustrated.

“Can I help you with something?” you calmly asked, not to show the nervousness you were actually feeling at that time.

He didn’t give an answer right away, but you still engaged eye contact with him as it was taking all of your willpower to even stand still in your place right now.

“Why are you moving away? Am I that intimidating?” he asked instead with a smirk afterwards.

Oh no

_Oh no._

He was one of those people, and you weren’t sure if that made things any better, or way worse.


	2. confucius and confuzzled

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeehaw we’re back with the second chapter. I thought I would have the motivation to continue this two weeks ago but I have failed y’all. Hopefully this can make up for it. Just one more chapter left!

You couldn’t make yourself turn around, but you still knew there was a fat smirk plastered on his face.

This man, who you still didn’t know the name of, had the most dominating aura ever, something you’ve never encountered before. It was as if he was a lion patiently waiting to devour you, a hopeless antelope, in the vast grasslands. He didn’t even have to move in order to keep you in your place, his bold words were more than enough for you to melt on the spot. 

But you didn’t want to melt on the spot, that wasn’t like you at all. You wouldn’t let some measly male impact your actions and goals. 

Honestly, fuck him for thinking that you were moving away just because he was a distraction — even though you fully knew well that it was true. 

But, that’s not the point. 

The point is that you needed to  _ study _ and you weren’t able to focus well in that one spot, and means you only sat there was because it was the only empty seat. 

After having that logical epiphany processed through your head, you stubbornly decided you wouldn’t be a slave to the white man. 

You turn your whole body around this time to look at the preying lion face to face. The smirk was still smeared on his face and you were so ready to hypothetically rip it off. 

“Actually no, I didn’t think anything of you. I just want to study in a place with no distractions,” you said with confidence. 

But the little confidence you exerted was immediately eaten away in the next second. 

“Wow. I guess I wasn’t the person you kept looking at every 5 seconds, although there isn’t anything behind me,” his voice dripping with blatant passive aggressiveness as he pretended to look behind. 

Your face, now flushed with the deepest red you could possibly think of, immediately averted your eyes away. Your hand also covered your mouth in attempt to not reveal anymore emotion, but that clearly wasn’t working. 

_ “So he did look up at me,”  _ you thought, the same words constantly repeating in your head. His timing was too good, even you didn’t notice, making it even more convincing for you to believe that this young man was actually a lion. 

After trying to regain your composure during the next two minutes, the young man still had your attention— his earbuds were actually out this time. You guess he was waiting for some sort of response out of you, although you really didn’t want to give him that satisfaction. 

“I guess you caught me…” You muttered, still not looking at him in the face. “...although you seem used to it,” you whispered additionally, knowing fully well it was loud enough for him to hear. 

“You aren’t wrong, it happens with both women and men” Your interest piqued at the word  _ men.  _ You take a small breath, trying to forget all that happened in the past ten minutes, to actually look at the person you were dealing with in front of you. 

He didn’t look any different, still ethereal and godlike, it was no wonder that he attracted all sorts of people. He signalled over to someone who was sitting a few tables away, discreetly. “Look,” he mouthed out. You turn your head slightly, not expecting what you were gonna see, but you were even more shocked when you actually see it. An overweight man, who was most likely in his forties was holding his phone awkwardly behind the library book in front of him. His camera was faced in the direction of the blonde and his face— you couldn’t even begin to describe his face. Lustful? No that seemed too mild of a word. Greasy? Lecherous? All of the above? Yes. 

You hated being unknowingly photographed yourself, but when it’s that obvious by an old man? That was unacceptable. 

You wanted to rip out the phone from the man’s hand and smack him with the library book at hand but you also didn’t want to make a scene in the library. So instead, you turned back around.

“You’re ok with this?” you asked the blonde, who was still looking nonchalantly into space. “It’s a first in this library but I’m used to it,” he shrugged. 

No way, no way you were just going to condemn this behavior and simply ignore it. You let yourself go in auto-pilot mode and grabbed the blonde’s shoulder, adamantly telling him to get up. 

He flinched at your touch, you were taken slightly aback but this didn’t stop you. “What are you doing?” he asked, about to brush your hands off. 

“Just follow me,” you backed your hand off, wondering why he had that reaction. What kind of guy was okay with a 40 year old leeching pervert filming him but flinch at a girl’s touch? You decided not to dwell on the thought further as you were waiting for him to get up. Eventually he gave in to your demands and got up. 

“Just walk behind me,” you casually said as you began walking towards the exit of the Rose Reading room. You specifically laid out your path to walk past that depraved old pervert, throwing your middle finger at him as he noticed the blonde man walking behind you. He looked pretty shocked after seeing your middle finger and a scowl was imprinted on his greasy face. 

You felt accomplished. 

* * *

You were on the stairwell of the New York Public Library along with the blonde young man you just saved. It was really weird you did that for someone whose name you still didn’t even know.

Before he even began to speak you said, “Can you just introduce yourself before we go any further. It’s conceptually awkward that I just defended someone from a sexual deviant but I don’t even know their name.”

“You know you could have just ignored that and go on with your “studying”” he said in air quotes. You didn’t even have the energy to get ticked off anymore. 

Instead you just stood there with your arms crossed, not uttering a word. He also tried to do the same but you could tell he was also impatient. “Fine...” he raised his left arm to put it behind his neck and he began scruffing his hair — a possible habit? 

“...Ash Lynx,” he trailed off. 

“Your real name,” you immediately said, not giving it any thought. Somehow your vocal filter disappeared ever since you encountered this “Ash.”

“You’re right, it’s not my real name but it’s what everyone calls me around here. What gives you the right to know my real name?” Ash said while taking one step forward, leaning his face into yours. 

_ “No don’t get any closer,”  _ your nervousness was slowly returning. 

“Nothing, although I just saved you from being shared among a group of old 40 year olds,” you say with a slight smirk. 

“Did you really save me though?” he whispered while inching another centimeter closer to your face. The jade eyes you were yearning to see up close were right in front of you now. 

_ "Soft, smooth and glossy, it appeared like benevolence; fine, compact and strong - like intelligence."  _

Somehow you remembered a Confucius quote in that exact moment, most likely from one of your reading in your Eastern Asian studies class. Whether the latter was accurate or not, the first part was definitely true as you confirmed it with your own eyes.

“What do you mean?” you ask with a composed face while taking a step back. 

“I’m owned by one of those 40 year old men you stuck your middle finger up to.”

_ “Huh.” _

* * *

Ash didn’t hold back, he actually spent a good ten minutes explaining his backstory, which was something you weren’t expecting him to. He probably glossed over the details he didn’t want to share though, you could tell by the expression on his face.

His guardian, Dino, was apparently a big mafia boss in the syndicate world, something you had no knowledge of — and you wanted to keep it that way. How in the world did this kid get involved with a mafia boss? 

“Wait, so you’ve never gone to school? No friends?” You immediately spat out. You couldn’t imagine someone not getting an education, especially in today’s society. 

“I was what you call ‘homeschooled’ by the finest tutors.”

You stood there with a face expressing both pity and disappointment, not knowing how to react in such a situation. 

“Hey, you asked for it, don’t act like everyone else now,” Ash said, expressing discontentment. 

“No it’s just, you don’t know me either, yet you were able to spill all that. It’s pretty brave of you. But one thing you’re right about is that I obviously don’t want to get involved. I’m a college student, you  _ should  _ be a high school senior but nope. We’re from two separate worlds.”

Ash chuckled, “You’re calling me brave when you literally stuck your middle finger to someone who’s probably influential in a public library.”

“I don’t tolerate sexual harassment, especially from someone decades over, any decent human being would have done what I did.”

“Aww how sweet,” Ash said mockingly. You simply ignored his blatant ignorance.

“I’m going back inside to study, you should probably dip from the library,” you suggested. 

“You can’t dictate what I do  _ mom _ ”

God, he was frustrating you even more now. You somewhat enjoyed the company though, but you really needed to get back to studying. 

“If all you’re going to do is distract me, then you’re doing an amazing job at it,” you snarked back. 

Ash didn’t have a response so you took that as a signal that you should go back in, but the second you were about to head back in, he said, “Why don’t I help you? You were struggling over reading “the Republic” right?”

“Huh!? “Struggle” is definitely an overstatement, I was doing just fine,” you remarked, but you really didn’t want to decline the offer. 

“What would you know about philosophy when you didn’t even finish high school?” you asked.

“Are you forgetting the “homeschooled by the finest tutors” I mentioned not too long ago, or is your memory that bad?” Ash snapped back. He straightened his back and turned to fully face you. “You know you can’t say no, and I don’t like owing debts.”

He was absolutely right, you couldn’t say no.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want the new banana fish opening ok, thursday wya

**Author's Note:**

> Ok we get way more Ash interaction in next chapter I promise  
> This ain't proofreaded so I'm sorry for the mistakes lmao


End file.
